Australian short fiction in the 1980s : continuity and change

Abstract

This thesis offers a critical survey and a comprehensive bibliography of the Australian short story in the 1980s. Conceived partly as an continuation of Stephen Torre’s study of Australian short fiction of the 1940-1980 period, it starts where Torre’s thesis stopped, focusing on Australian short story writing published in the ten years between 1981 and 1990. Torre has summed up the 1940-1980 period as ‘a time of development and innovation’ in the history of Australian short fiction. In comparison, the 1980s is probably best described as a decade of unprecedented expansion and diversification. During that time, Australian short fiction broke away from its earlier domination by monolithic traditions and became a much more eclectic and pluralistic form. Contributing to this eclecticism and plurality were five different streams of story writing created by five separate groups of writers. Due to constraints of space, the critical text of the thesis examines only four of them.